A Room With a View

Baby, It's Cold Outside

It had taken Hermione to calm him down after reading through Narcissa's collected backlog of articles on the Granger-Snape relationship saga. An hour, two shredded croissants, several bracing cups of tea, and more soothing and platitudes than Severus had thought himself capable of enduring. And he still wanted to track the woman down and squeeze her neck until she turned as blue as her little beetle carapace.

"I told you to wait to read those, Severus," Hermione had scolded. "I knew you'd flip your wig. You certainly did the first time."

"Yes, well. I'm supposed to be older and more even tempered now, aren't I?" 

"Hmm" had been her only response.

Hermione had explained that she'd hoped to start their legilimency work that morning, but that he was clearly too upset to root around in her mind with the sort of accuracy he'd need to sort through so many memories. So it was not long after his outburst and silently renewed vow to make Rita Skeeter pay for her transgressions that he found himself taking a rather brisk walk around the Black Lake with his lover.

He had to admit, the moist, cold air was equal parts bracing and calming. He hadn't spent much time out of doors since the weather started turning, and he could see that the lake had frozen nearly all the way to the center. As they neared the halfway point around the lake, the giant squid shot a tentacle up, shattering the thin layer of ice over the deepest part of the lake and sending chunks of frozen water flying for yards. Severus and Hermione continued to walk in silence, listening to the ice crack and waves slosh from the center of the lake.

Snow began to fall as they neared the end of their walk, sticking to and nesting within Hermione's curls until she looked like a mythical Nordic queen. His heart clenched at the sight of her, but he merely kissed the tip of her cold-reddened nose and took her hand within his as they climbed the small hill toward the castle.

When they returned to her quarters, they stripped each other of their snow damp clothes and made slow love in front of her fire, touching one another with chilled fingertips until their bodies were warm and their minds still.

It was several hours before Severus realized that he was no longer angry. He couldn't ever remember calming so quickly after an emotional upset, but it would seem that Hermione had learned to help him settle sometime in their past relationship. He couldn't help but wonder what secrets of his she held.

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Classes resumed that week with a bang and a whimper. The snow the previous night had left the Hogwarts grounds quiet and nestled under a pristine blanket of white that students were raring to desecrate with snow fortresses and epic snowball fights. Their restlessness in lessons rendered classes close to unmanageable, and house point losses nearly trebled in the wake of the sudden surge of energy in each class.

It didn't help that Severus' classes were now caught up to the curriculum of each given year, and he was pushing them harder than ever in an attempt to prepare them for the upcoming survival trip in the spring. He met resistance at nearly every turn. Students questioned his choice of subject at nearly every turn. He was frustrated that not even the lesson on blending in with Muggles could keep their attention for more than a half hour. Apparently Muggle sartorial choices and slang were not sufficiently interesting to students who felt hemmed in by the protective castle walls.

During the final lesson of the day, one of his seventh years finally huffed and exclaimed, "I don't understand why I need to learn about blue jeans in a defense class!" (Ten points for Gryffindor for insolence.) Severus nearly lost his temper before inspiration struck.

"Right! We have nearly two hours left in this lesson and another hour after that before dinner. You have five minutes to summon a winter garment and meet me in the Entrance Hall. Hop to it!" He whirled and left the room in a flurry of robes, summoning his own winter cloak as he walked toward the front of the castle. He rapidly started plotting out the next step of the lesson while he waited for his students to arrive, reshaping his carefully planned exercise to fit his fidgety students.